environment

Purple Martin Stories

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PurpleMartinsLandscapeThere are moments when it’s hard not to mourn the quick passing of the summer even though we are still in it. Cold rainy days that feel like they were borrowed from another month. A month like October.

And seeing that the Purple Martins have ‘left the building‘. Their summer nesting boxes empty – devoid of those beautiful summer sounds the swallows bring – the babies fully grown, independent. Eventually, hopefully, they will make it all the way to their winter home in Brazil, some of them banded and/or outfitted with tiny GPS trackers. Little winter ‘backpacks’ to tell stories of where they go. When they return in the spring the birds will be carefully caught and the tiny GPS devices removed. The number of Purple Martins is significantly dropping and it’s not really known why so, this data is hopefully a step in finding out what might be causing the decline in their population, and a step too, in finding ways to protect them. You can read more about the fascinating Purple Martin Project here and here on the Nature Canada website.

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[The first image is a layered photograph ~ purple martins, a rainy window and a summer landscape made with movement.]

© Karen McRae, 2014

In Progress

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RiverStories1River Stories 1, oil, Conté & etching on Mylar

I don’t know where this might end up (messier, maybe – it seems too colourful, it bores me …) but it is what I’m wrestling with at the moment. Well, we’ve been wrestling for a while. Slippery fish.

© Karen McRae, 2014

Wild Grasses

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WildGrasses1 A photograph made by blending three different ‘drive-by’ images (and a smattering of selective erasing on 2 of the layers). It seems I am obsessively endlessly fascinated by the exploration of ‘movement’ when making photographs.  : )

From the photographic series ‘Colour Field’
© Karen McRae, 2014

Night Light 2

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PalmerRapidsAbstract

CheckingoutheRapidsatNight

PalmerRapidsatNight2Long exposures of fast-moving water at night. These photographs were made during a paddling/camping trip and although there were lots of stars in the inky sky there was no glowing moon, so in order to light the first and last images I ‘painted’ the slipping-by water with my headlamp and set the camera to make 30 second exposures. In the middle image you can see my paddling friends are lighting the rapids (and the fluttery bugs) with their own headlamps.

(Unfortunately, I didn’t have the camera set to raw mode when I made these photographs – poorly planned on my part – so the image quality is not that great…)

© Karen McRae, 2014

Up with the Birds

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Purple-Martins-6Above: Purple Martins in flight

I stopped in to see the Purple Martins after a very early start to my day. If I were a Robin I might have got the first worm…

There is a lot of activity as they are busily collecting materials for their little nest-box homes. I spotted a pair of Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) attempting to build a nest in one of the boxes. It seemed that the Martins were discouraging their presence but those Starlings are tenacious.

StarlingandNestMaterials1Above: Moving in ~ A Starling in flight, gathering nesting materials

Each type of bird has its own wonderful shifting form when in movement. I don’t think I could ever tire of observing and trying to capture these various forms. Anyway, I like how these images look a bit like drawings and this process is giving me some ideas (and reference material) for an art project.

© Karen McRae, 2014

Life in the Liminal Spaces

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Insects-in-Light

You might not realize that most of the photographs I post here are made in the city. A city ribboned with green spaces and waterways – corridors teeming with wildlife. A different version of city life. An exploration of the narrow tributaries, the wide rivers and the earthy ‘cracks’ someone has thought to leave between all the pavement. You never know what you might find in these spaces because even though we heap constraints on these wild creatures they place no constraints on themselves (Last spring we even had bears visiting).

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Late-Day-Light

Night-Heron-and-WarblerThe Night Heron and the Warbler (above)

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Turkey-Vulture2Turkey Vultures, Perched and Circling

It’s common to see the odd turkey vulture circling above the green spaces but in the dwindling light of the weekend I looked up to see a tree draped with ten or more of these birds who appeared to be gazing down at me. They are so odd-looking with their red shrunken heads and wide-shouldered bodies. A few of them lifted their wings to the last rays of warm light.

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MaleDeerBeing Watched by a White-tailed Deer. A male deer with new antlers sprouting over his ears. You can see things are really greening up around here.

© Karen McRae, 2014

Returning

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Great-Blue-HeronAll those birds great and small…

A great blue heron silhouetted on the budding branches. I love this time of year.

The low hum of spring is now a cacophony of migrating birds sounds. Just in time for World Migratory Bird Day (There’s a day for everything!).

© Karen McRae, 2014

Spring Shield

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Refract2

Reflect

Reflect3This is a place I’ve been wanting to photograph for a while but I’m usually here with a bike and my mountain biking ‘ability’ is not really compatible with safely transporting a camera and riding over rocky terrain. On the weekend I decided to walk the trails instead but the sky was a heavy grey and the light seemed uninspiring for making images.

This Canadian Shield landscape is always beguiling to be in, though, with its lichen-covered granite undulating gracefully between ponds and wooded areas. The images that I liked the best (and have posted here) turned out to be double and triple exposures.

The landscape is still mostly a profusion of lovely browns but if you put your ear to the ground you can hear that the earth’s heartbeat has quickened.

[A series of in-camera multiple exposures]

© Karen McRae, 2014